Man is it a beautiful day! I just took my lawn mower to the repair guy in West Plattsburgh and the world is full of greens and blues--so green and blue! The trees are nearly full, just the hard maples are still red/pink and the beeches are still obscene green now. The sky is magnificent blue.

Glad to hear Kristen may actually be able to flush a toilet before nightfall (or is that hoping for too much?). How well I know the tricks of saving water. You wash the dishes in a gallon of water and save the dishwater to use for flushing the toilet. Wash your hair in 1/2 a gallon, save the water to flush with. Begrudge the dogs their drinking water ("Do you have to drink SO MUCH?"). Think of work as Toilet Haven. Wash your face there, brush your teeth there, make sure you pee before going home. Augh!

So on the way to work this morning I heard a bit on NPR about compulsive hoarders. Boy did that ring a bell. As someone who suffers from obsessive compulsive disorder, this really made me prick up my ears. When they started talking about people who saved boxes I really sat up straight. Yes, I used to really, really save boxes--all kinds. Now I'm much better (I should be, I take enough pills) but I still look longingly at the Perfect Box. I allow myself to save 2 shoe boxes at a time (they're very handy for something, I just don't know what) and I try really hard to burn any box that's too tempting. These people were really hoarders, though, they ended up hoarding their garbage. I cringed at the descriptions of them hoarding magazines to "read later." Yes, oh yes, I did that for a long time. I spent several hours last night going through old New Yorkers, actually reading articles and cutting out cartoons (I have a scrapbook I keep of things that strike my fancy, especially cartoons). Then I THREW THEM AWAY. I have conquered this part of my disorder. Other aspects of it, not so good am I at. But I think I do pretty well, all in all, especially when I compare my obsessions with those of my past. I still can't control as much of my behavior as I would like to, as much as other people can, but I do ok. Oh, how nice it would be to be like other people. It's like the incredible gift of hearing silence. I have tinnitus, have had it since I was a child. So did Henry. We used to talk about what it was like to always hear sound, never know what silence sounded like. I would love silence. Of course, I can't shut my brain down anyway, so what would the point in trying to hear silence be? I'd at least like a shot at it. Silence, that must be nice.

What a weekend I had. Friday night dinner was nice. Too much expensive food, ended up costing me $60 for what basically was a small steak while everyone else had lots of lamb, clams and shrimp. That's what happens when you have 2 bottles of wine and lots of appetizers in an American restaurant. But I paid for the company and enjoyed it all. Saturady was a beautiful day, absolutely beautiful--cool, but so pretty. It was the day of the Belmont, and everyone in America was hopeful we'd have history again. When we were kids, Molly and I would watch all three legs of the Triple Crown--this was back when we actually had Triple Crown winners. So I went to a party, not really a party, a gathering, at my friend Linda's camp, and we drank mint juleps (with cheap bourbon, a huge disappointment to me) and cheered Smarty Jones on. We got really excited right up to the end, then What's His Name pulled ahead and we shut off the tv in total disgust. Ken is convinced the race was crooked and the owner of the winning horse is a gangster. Who knows. Anyway, we had more wine and duck for dinner, another late night with lots of alcohol. Linda and Erdvilas drink a lot when they're in camp. Yesderday was a cold day but the black flies were fierce anyway. Linda hosted Sunday dinner--huge steaks cooked on a grill, the steaks she had shipped to Ken on dry ice for his birthday. More bourbon, but the good stuff this time. We had a nice visit, good time for everyone. I made the dessert. Something different this time: chocolate almond torte. I always make cheesecake, so that's what they expected. This time I ground up almonds and chocolate, added whipped egg yolks and melted butter, almond extract, sugar, whipped egg whites and baked it. I was sorely disappointed, not enough almond OR chocolate flavor, but everyone else loved it. Still searching for the perfect dessert I am. After dinner I didn't do my usual napping away the afternoon, no, I read old magazines and watched Law & Order--what a great way to spend a few hours! I loved it. I glued stuff in my scrapbook, something I'm way behind in doing. I've got the stuff saved, just haven't glued it into the book.

Ronald Reagan finally died. This means we get Friday off, it's a National Day of Mourning. Decent.